EGK insurance card

The insurance card serves to provide proof of KVG cover to health care providers (for example, pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, etc.) and entitles you, in an emergency, to receive health care in Europe. This guarantees that you will be treated according to the rules and tariffs of social insurance in your country of residence in case of illness and accidents abroad.
The VeKa-Center (Insurance Card Center) of Swiss health insurance providers operates a hotline for the insurance card: +41 32 625 42 29.

Electronic access key to doctors, pharmacists and hospitals

The insurance card is based on Art. 42A Swiss Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG) and on the VVK (Swiss Federal ordinance on insurance cards) It facilitates billing between us and your doctor, the hospital, etc. You are required to present the insurance card when you receive a medical service. The insurance card is issued in your name, which is why it can only be used by you personally. The service provider can also request personal ID from you. You should always carry your insurance card with you.

Loss of card: Please contact us immediately so that card misuse can be prevented.

Electronic access key: The insurance card serves as an electronic access key to your current insurance and cover information at the doctor, hospital, etc. and is therefore an instrument for electronic billing between service providers and us. By handing over your insurance card to the medical service provider, you agree to the online electronic inquiry with the insurer.

End of insurance: At the end of the insurance period you must immediately destroy the card. This also applies when the exact expiry date of the card is reached, which can be seen on the front and back of the card at the bottom right.

Information that is on the card

The statutory prescribed front side of the card contains administrative information such as the surname, first name, gender and date of birth of the insured person, as well as the name and BAG number of the health insurance company. It also includes a 20-digit insurance card number (VeKa no. according to EU standard) and the 13-digit AHV number. On the front side of the card, the insurer's contact details and the emergency telephone number of the health insurance company for home and abroad are indicated. On the reverse side of the card is the European health insurance card for use in other European countries (blue reverse side) for compulsory health insurance. This information is also stored on the microprocessor and can be read with a chip card reader.

Data that saves lives in an emergency

In addition to the administrative data, emergency medical data can be voluntarily stored. Emergency data includes data on illness and consequences of an accident, transplantation data, allergies, reactions, medications, vaccinations, blood type, transfusions, information about the living will, organ donation card and contact details in the medical and private settings. The reading and writing of medical emergency data is only possible for authorised service providers and only on behalf of the insured person. The list of approved service providers can be found on the web page of the VeKa Centre (Insurance Card Centre). The insured person should request a hard copy of the stored data from the service provider. Thus, the emergency data is secured in the event of a card loss and is available even if the medical service provider has no corresponding electronic equipment. The voluntarily selected PIN code is possible to protect the emergency data, but not useful in an emergency. The PUK code is only needed if the PIN code has been entered incorrectly five times. The PIN/PUK code is not known to the health insurer. The health insurers also have no access to the emergency medical data.